The present invention relates in general to ventilation systems for automotive vehicles, and, more specifically, to a deployable vent with improved appearance and ergonomics.
Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems use ducts to convey air which is driven by a blower past heat exchangers (e.g., an evaporator or heater core) and then to various outlets within a passenger cabin including outlet vents or registers serving corresponding zones in the cabin. Common vent locations include positions on an instrument panel or dashboard (such as at the center stack or at driver and passenger sides) for front seat passengers and console or ceiling locations for vents serving the rear seating rows.
Except for floor vents, typical registers include a movable nozzle and/or vanes to manually control the airflow direction and volume. Automatically-controlled blend doors within a main HVAC unit (such as an air-handling case) may also determine the volume and temperature of air delivered to particular ducts, including a complete shut-off of air to particular registers in certain circulation modes.
Since vents must be placed on the interior trim surfaces close to the passengers, they interrupt the aesthetic appearance and styling of the trim surfaces (e.g., the instrument panel). Depending on ambient air conditions and/or an air circulation mode being chosen by the user, particular registers may frequently be cut off from any active airflow.
Various movable doors have been proposed in the art for concealing unused registers. However, movable doors consume excessive panel space and/or require intricate and expensive components. Furthermore, covering vents with movable doors has achieved only partial success in hiding a vent when it is not being used because the surface area occupied by the vent on the visible trim surface with the door closed is just as large as when the door is open.